Geographic Skills, Fieldwork and the Internal Assessment
Internal assessment and skills
The IA is a 2,500-word fieldwork report worth 25% at SL and 20% at HL. It is marked on research question, method, data presentation, analysis, and conclusion/evaluation, and it must be tied to syllabus content - a physical or human theme you have studied.
Rules and tools
- The research question must be narrow, measurable and located; hypotheses must be testable with data you can actually collect in the time available.
- Sampling: random (unbiased, impractical in the field), systematic (every nth site), stratified (proportional to sub-groups). State sample size and justify it.
- Statistics: Spearman's rank for correlation between two ranked variables; chi-squared for association in frequency tables (df = (rows−1)(columns−1)); Mann–Whitney U for a difference between two independent samples; nearest neighbour index for settlement spacing.
Worked example
Spearman: n = 8 pairs, Σd² = 30. rs = 1 − (6 × 30) ÷ (8 × (64 − 1)) = 1 − 180/504 = 0.64. The critical value at 0.05 (two-tailed, n = 8) is 0.738. Since 0.64 < 0.738, the null hypothesis is accepted: no significant correlation. Reasoning: always compare with the critical value for your n and significance level - never with 1 or 0, and never with the value from a different n.
Traps
Calling a result 'proven'. Running a rank test on five pairs. Feeding percentages into chi-squared, which needs counts. Writing an IA with no geographic concept behind the hypothesis.